Presque Isle’s latest coffee hangout, Cafe Allegro, already is expanding to Houlton and Bangor just months after opening its flagship location on Main Street, and has plans to open an Italian restaurant across the street.
If you’re heading to Bangor in the coming weeks you’ll be able to enjoy a coffee at Due Allegro, located inside Vision Care of Maine at 1 Ridgewood Drive in Bangor.
“Bangor will open in two to three weeks. It’s already set up, it’s ready to go, I just have to go down there and restock it and staff it,” said Allison Basye, owner executive chef of Cafe Allegro.
The Houlton location will be located downtown on Main Street. Basye estimates folks will be able to enjoy the new location near the end of this year or early next year.
“A few weeks ago a gentleman approached me about duplicating this store here in Presque Isle in Houlton,” said Basye. “I went and looked over a couple places he owns to determine which one is going to be best, and now we just have to get with the city and find out what the ordinances are for renovating and remodeling.”
Patrons can expect the same atmosphere at the new locations.
“I’m very much into the casual, rustic atmosphere where you can come in and kick back and read a book or play on your laptop. There’s no formality, there’s no institutional look or anything like that, you just come in like coming into your own living room and kitchen,” Basye said.
The process of expansion has gone well, according to Basye, “Everybody’s been fantastic. The cities we’ve worked with have bent over backward to get us our licensing and really stepped forward to say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help,'” she said.
On top of the exciting news of two new locations for Allegro there are also plans to open an “upscale casual” Italian restaurant on the third floor of the former Key Bank building in downtown Presque Isle.
“We’re going to try to start construction at the end of this year, and we’re going to shoot for an opening of June of next year,” Basye said.
“Things will be made from scratch,” she said. “I’m not pouring sauce out of a number 10 can. I’m not pulling pasta out of a box. Sauces are going to be slow simmered, and on the balcony we’re going to have garden boxes where we’ll grow our own herbs, lemons, and what produce we can.”
The Italian restaurant will be called Il Allegro.
“We’re definitely going to be using a lot of co-op from area farms. I’ve come to a couple butchers already for our meat. There’s a new co-op that’s opening up in Westfield — I’ve already scheduled with them to take out their first harvest of vegetables when they open up next year. But it’s definitely [going to be] as much from scratch as possible. We’re going to have a baker, a pasta maker and such like that,” said Basye.
